Developer Center | Open Library

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</ul> </header> <div id="test-body-mobile"> <div class="flash-messages"> </div> <div id="contentHead"> <div id="editTools" class="edit"> <div id="editInfo"> <div class="brown smaller sansserif">Last edited by <a rel="nofollow" href="/people/raybb" >raybb</a></div> <div class="smallest gray sansserif">January 10, 2025 | <a href="/developers?m=history" rel="nofollow" title="View this template's edit history">History</a></div> </div> <div class="editButton">  <a class="cta-btn cta-btn--vanilla" href="/developers?m=edit" title="Edit this page" data-ol-link-track="CTAClick|Edit" accesskey="e" rel="nofollow" >Edit</a> </div> </div> <h1>Developer Center</h1> </div> <div id="contentBody"> <div class="subNav sansserif"> <ul class="collapse"> <li> <strong>Developer Center (Home)</strong> <span>|</span> </li> <li> <a href="/developers/api">Web API</a> <span>|</span> </li> <li> <a href="https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary-client">Client Library</a> <span>|</span> </li> <li> <a href="/data">Data Dumps</a> <span>|</span> </li> <li> <a href="https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary">Source Code</a> <span>|</span> </li> <li> <a href="https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary/issues">Report an Issue</a> <span>|</span> </li> <li> <a href="/developers/licensing">Licensing</a> </li> </ul> </div> <br style="clear: both;"/> <p>Welcome to the developer hub of Open Library. This page links you to all of the information and external resources that will help you get started accessing data from, integrating with, or contributing to the Open Library platform. </p> <p><strong>Accessing Data</strong><br/> Open Library offers free, public, low-volume <a href="https://openlibrary.org/developers/api" rel="nofollow"><strong>Web APIs</strong></a> and <strong>bulk</strong> <a href="/data"><strong>Monthly Data Dumps</strong></a> for accessing book and author catalog data. Here are <a href="/developers/api#api-partners">examples</a> of partners making use of our data in the wild. Our Web APIs are ideal for book services which need to make infrequent, real-time searches for specific books, their authors, and their availability. For projects which require importing books, authors, or covers in bulk, please kindly download our free data dumps. </p> <p><strong>Client Libraries</strong><br/> We maintain an <a href="https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary-client" rel="nofollow"><strong>Official (Python) Client Library</strong></a> for accessing data and <a href="https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary-bots#openlibrary-bots" rel="nofollow">writing bots</a>. The are also unofficial client libraries written in <a href="https://github.com/jayfajardo/openlibrary" rel="nofollow">Ruby</a> and <a href="https://github.com/nithinbekal/openlibrary" rel="nofollow">Elixir</a>. </p> <p><strong>Contributing</strong><br/> OpenLibrary.org is an open source project. If you'd like to contribute as an Open Library developer, please visit our <a href="https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md" rel="nofollow"><strong>CONTRIBUTING guide</strong></a> on <a href="https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary" rel="nofollow">GitHub</a> and explore our <a href="https://openlibrary.org/volunteer" rel="nofollow"><strong>volunteer page</strong></a>. Aside from the documentation here, you may also find <a href="https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary/wiki" rel="nofollow">Open Library's GitHub wiki</a> useful for getting started. </p> <p><strong>Technologies</strong><br/> Open Library is written in Python and uses the (now arcane) <a href="https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/infogami" rel="nofollow">Infogami</a> web framework, which itself is built on top of <a href="https://webpy.org" rel="nofollow">web.py</a>. See the <a href="/about/tech">/about/tech</a> page to learn more about all the technologies powering the Open Library service. </p> <p><strong>Partners</strong><br/> Are you a library, publisher, or book vendor trying to integrate your catalog with Open Library previews, lending, data, or book covers? Check out our <a href="/dev/docs/inlibrary">partner resources</a>. </p> <div class="clearfix"></div> <div id="pageHistory"> <div class="head"> <h2 class="collapse inline"> History </h2> <ul class="pageHistory__list inline"> <li class="title inline">Created October 21, 2009</li> <li class="link inline"><a rel="nofollow" href="/developers?m=history">78 revisions</a></li> </ul> </div> <table class="history"> <tbody> <tr> <td class="timestamp"><a rel="nofollow" href="/developers?v=78" title="View revision 78">January 10, 2025</a></td> <td class="timestamp"> Edited by <a rel="nofollow" href="/people/raybb" class="truncate" >raybb</a> </td> <td class="detail"> fix typos </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="timestamp"><a rel="nofollow" href="/developers?v=77" title="View revision 77">July 5, 2023</a></td> <td class="timestamp"> Edited by <a rel="nofollow" href="/people/mekBot" class="truncate" >Mek</a> </td> <td class="detail"> updating technologies </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="timestamp"><a rel="nofollow" href="/developers?v=76" title="View revision 76">July 23, 2021</a></td> <td class="timestamp"> Edited by <a rel="nofollow" href="/people/raybb" class="truncate" >raybb</a> </td> <td class="detail"> all links https </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="timestamp"><a rel="nofollow" href="/developers?v=75" title="View revision 75">June 27, 2021</a></td> <td class="timestamp"> Edited by <a rel="nofollow" href="/people/mekBot" class="truncate" >Mek</a> </td> <td class="detail"> <em>Edited without comment.</em> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="timestamp"><a rel="nofollow" href="/developers?v=1" title="View revision 1">October 21, 2009</a></td> <td class="timestamp"> Created by <a rel="nofollow" href="/people/george08" class="truncate" >George</a> </td> <td class="detail"> New page. </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> </div> </div>  <div class="clearfix"></div> <footer> <div id="footer-content" > <div id="footer-links"> <div> <h2>Open Library</h2> <ul> <li><a 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